The Mechanic
by foxymoron64
Summary: Ace visits the Straw Hat crew and Luffy gets himself into a pickle when he finds a girl with a horrid past. Will he be able to help...and what do his nakama think? Rated for language. Rating might go up. [AcexOc LuffyxOc] Set before Nico Robin.
1. Chapter 1 Mizu no Aya

Disclaimer: One Piece characters and all associated materials are property of Eiichiro Oda-sensei!

Author's Note:Oh, and just to let you guys know, I would really apreciate some feedback on this. It's my first fic on here so don't hold back. Thanx and enjoy! X3

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A young girl sat at the docks of her hometown, her deep blue eyes staring into the sunset. Her life never left many opportunities to finally be alone and think to herself. Her brown long hair shifted in the wind. She longed to get away…away from the place that only brought her grief, but she could never leave. It was the only place she ever knew…

'Takeshi…'

(The Next Morning)

"Oi! Aya!" a young blonde girl shrieked. She saw her fellow employee already walk into the tavern they worked at.

'Oh…that bitch…!' She thought. She rushed into the tavern only to find that the girl was gone. She looked around for a moment and ran into the kitchen. Aya was already prepping the counters.

"Hey!" the blonde yelled. "Don't you ever ignore ME!"

The girl Aya didn't even seem to notice she entered and continued her work. The blonde was flushed in the face with rage.

"HELLO?" She screamed.

Aya finally put down her wash cloth and turned to look at the very pissed off workmate. It was hard for her not to laugh at her face. She blinked and bit her lip.

"Ah, you know Tsuka, looking like a rat isn't good for your complexion. And for you, that should be a crime, I'm sure."

The blonde Tsuka only grinded her teeth at the remark. The silence was finally broken by another worker entering the kitchen. He was a young man with red spiky hair and a goatee. He sighed, ignored the scene, and started bringing food out of the fridge.

Tsuka finally spoke. "You know…I should beat the crap out of you."

"Na?" Aya cocked her head in confusion.

"You know that _I'm_ always the first to get here! Boss is gonna give me a raise first, so you can just kiss my ass and get here after me!"

The red haired chef sighed, "It's too early for you two to fight, shut up…"

"But she…!"

Aya turned and went back to work. "Tsuka, why do I get the feeling that you think I'm going to get a raise before you?"

"Because! Boss is always so proud of you! You already get more money than me,Donju _and_ everyone else! Why is that? I bet you sneak into his apartment at night and have a 'private' meeting."

Aya suddenly paused. Tsuka grinned. "I'm right, aren't I?"

Aya turned and smacked Tsuka on the cheek. Tears emerged from her eyes and a red spot was now left on her cheek.

"When the situation gets tough, I'm sure that's what you would do, Tsuka-san. But I actually do my job well, and maybe if you did yours and stopped being such a lazy bitch, than maybe you could get more money too!"

With that, Aya growled and left for the dining room.

"Eh…Tsuka, why do you have to be so mean?" The red haired Donju sighed while chopping some onions.

"…oh shut up! She's a monster, she doesn't deserve kindness…"

(5 hours later)

"Yosh! Finally some food!" A young boy wearing a straw hat squealed as more and more food piled up onto the table. He pounded his fists drawing more than enough attention to himself.

"Luffy! Stop! You're going to spill all the food onto the floor!" A woman with orange hair warned with an angry voice. "You know we don't have a lot of money!" But it didn't do any good, he soon began gobbling down all the food in sight.

"Oi, baka! That was MY lobster!" Another young man with a pointy nose shouted trying to pry the lobster from the straw hat's mouth. A little reindeer tried his hardest to eat all the food he could before Luffy got to it. ANOTHER young man with green hair sat scowling at his nakama, while another crewmate lit a cigarette and studied his food.

"The food looks simple, I wonder if it tastes good?"

Luffy grinned, mouthful of food. "Ugh fink ut tastes gweat!" (I think it tastes great.) The rest at the table pulled a sweat drop and started eating as well.

"Luffy, when is your brother going to get here?" the pointy nosed guy asked.

"I dunno. He should be here foon." (soon)

Meanwhile, Aya was busy in the kitchen washing dishes. And Tsuka was bustling in and out taking food to their customers…occasionally cursing at their manners. Other cooks and waitresses were frantically yelling out orders. It was a busy day.

"You know, we got a lotta customers today Aya…" Donju looked over his stove at where Aya stood. "I think Tsuka needs a little help, could ya hurry it up a bit?" he smiled.

"Oh, shut up." she grinned. "Alright…"

She outstretched her arms towards the sink and immediately water flowed from them. The fluid glistened as it washed over every dish in sight, cleaning them to a sparkling shine. It whipped around glasses, plates, silverware and even the counters. But as soon as it appeared, Aya rested her arms at her side and the water flowed back and vanished. Her work space was completely spotless.

"Hm. The power of the Mizu Mizu Fruit never ceases to amaze me." Donju sighed. "Now go get to waitressing, Tsuka needs you!" He smirked.

"Heh…uh-huh.."


	2. Chapter 2 Monster

"More food over here!"

"Ok!"

"More food for me too!"

"Alright already!"

Aya, Tsuka, and all the waitresses they had raced back and forth with all they could carry.

"Hey! The damn coffee machine over here is broke!"

Aya rushed over to the angry customer.

"Sorry, sir. I'll fix it as soon as possible."

"Hmph, you better." he grunted, and walked away.

'Damn pirates…' Aya thought. 'There all to stupid to not brake stuff…'

She pulled out a screwdriver and popped open the side. Sure enough, one of the gears was jammed…tight. She sighed and went to work. Her hands easily flew over each part and quickly fixed the problems. A pirate at a table nearby couldn't help but notice her work. It was the same orange haired woman with the rest of the straw hat crew.

"Hm, that girl seems very skilled with her hands." she said while taking a bite out of an orange. "She's also very cute!" the man next to her added with hearts in his eyes.

"Sanji, give it a rest."

"Yes, Nami-san!"

In a matter of minutes, the huge coffee machine was fixed.

"Hey, your coffee is ready now sir!" Aya cried! The pirate swaggered over.

"Hm, thanks sweetie! You sure are handy aren't you? How's about you come on my ship for a little fun, eh?"

Aya narrowed her eyes.

"I would never be seen alive with a pirate."

The pirate frowned.

"Awright then, suit yourself." He got his coffee and left.

A huge, fat, pirate with a long beard grunted.

"You have something against pirates, missy?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do."

"Well then, a pretty girl like you shouldn't be so angry. I honestly can't see how your so different from us….miss little monster."

The room grew silent. All eyes were on Aya, but she didn't move.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Heh, I heard that you're a murderer. Thas all. Everybody around ere' says you're a monster. Now what would that mean, I wonder?" He bore his yellow teeth in a large grin.

Aya clenched her fist. She hated pirates and everything about them. Anger was rising up, and she knew that if it went on any longer, she wouldn't be able to bear it. But it only got worse.

"It means that she should get lost and leave us all normal people alone." This time the remark came from a woman. Aya glared over to the voice. It was Tsuka. Her beady eyes on the now trembling Aya.

"This island doesn't need people like you. Do you all know what this girl did?"

"Shut your mouth!" Aya screamed. Tsuka only grew a smile.

"Or what? Will you…kill me?"

Aya shut her eyes tight a pounded her fist into the coffee machine. The impact sent the machine flying into the wall and landed with a crash. Tsuka looked terrified and everyone continued to stare. Aya couldn't take it, she rushed out of the tavern as fast as her feet could take her, tears falling from her eyes. She ran through the cobble streets passing person after person. She didn't care where she went, as long as is was far, far away from that place. She slowed down and tried to calm down. All of those eyes were still in her head, and she couldn't concentrate. She turned a corner and something pushed into her face. Aya paused and blinked. Her face turned bright red when she noticed she was practically pressed up against some guy's chest.

"Holy crap! I'm so sorry!" she shouted, knees shaking as she backed off.

"Hah, that's ok." The guy said.

Aya raised an eyebrow. The guy she ran into looked very…strange. He had an orange hat with some kind of necklace on it, no shirt, long black shorts, black boots and a tattoo that said Asce with the S crossed out. Aya noticed that he even sported rather childish freckles, when the guy looked like he was in his twenties.

The orange hat guy raised an eyebrow too.

"What? Is there something on my face?"

Aya blinked and forgot she was staring.

"Oh…uh no, sorry! I uh, just haven't seen someone dressed like that before. Heh…"

'What was that?' she screamed in her head. 'Could I sound any stupider?'

Strangely enough, the orange hat guy smiled.

"Yeah, I get that a lot actually."

"Huh?"

"I said I get that a lot. Most people aren't used to seeing a guy with his shirt off I guess." He said still smiling. Aya didn't say a word, she was still confused as to how this guy could act so casual when she almost rammed him off the street.

"Well…" he said. "It was nice meeting you miss…uh…"

"Oh, um, Aya…Aya Tsukiko."

" Ok. Well then, see you around maybe…Aya." He said and started to walk off.

"Hey wait!"

The guy turned around with a puzzled look on his face.

"What?"

"What's your name?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, sorry about that. It's Portgas D. Ace. But everybody just calls me Ace." He pointed his thumb onto the brim of his hat.

Aya bit her lip and shivered. Ace took a step forward with quizzical eyes.

"What's the matter with-" Aya then burst out into laughter. She laughed so hard and so uncontrollably she could barely breath in between. Ace could only look at her as she almost fell over from her fit.

"I'm sorry, _haha_…it's just so…_hee_…funny!"

"What is?"

" Your…na-name!"

Ace frowned.

"My name?"

Aya finally stopped. She wished she control her laughter, but she hadn't laughed in a good long time. But now, she just felt horrible. She wiped the tears of laughter away from her eyes.

"Look, I'm really sorry. Your name…it's not…I'm so sorry!" She bowed as low as her body would let her.

"Well…it is kind of odd…isn't it?" Aya looked up. He wasn't frowning anymore, he only had a warm smile on his face.

"Look…I-"

"Don't worry about it. But I seriously have to go, my brother's expecting me."

"Oh, right. Um, bye!"

Ace turned and started walking off.

"See ya!"

'How weird' Aya thought. 'Oh well.'

She turned and started walking off too. Before long, she found herself at her favorite spot on the entire island. It was a long wooden dock that stretched out into the sea. People were no where to be seen, and the sea breeze felt calm as it brushed against her cheeks. She reached the edge and sat down while taking off her shoes. Dipping her toes into the cool water, she stared off into the ocean. She almost forgot the reason why she came out there, but then she remembered.

'…monster…' she thought.

Her long brown hair shifted in the wind. She longed to get away…away from the place that only brought her grief, but she could never leave. It was the only place she ever knew…

'Takeshi…'


	3. Chapter 3 Memories Come to Play

(Back at the tavern)

Things settled down after the coffee machine incident and everyone was boisterous and loud as usual. People were still whispering about Aya however, and how she exploded. But other than that, things were back to normal. The Straw Hat crew were still sitting around their table with one seat still left empty. Luffy was strangely quiet while the others discussed pirate matters and where to pick up some money for previsions. Chopper finally noticed his captain wasn't being himself.

"Luffy? What's the matter?" he asked.

Luffy looked at the reindeer with a very rare sense of seriousness.

"Did you see that girl? Her eyes…they looked so painful."

Chopper paused.

"You mean that girl that ran out of here crying?" Ussop asked. Luffy nodded.

"It's best not to worry about that stuff, Luffy." Sanji said taking a drag from his cigarette. "Everyone's eyes have a story to tell."

Luffy looked down at his plate. It still had food on it.

"Hey, are you going to eat that?" Everyone looked up at the familiar voice.

"Ace!" Luffy shouted. "Yay! Your finally here!"

"Yeah, sorry I took so long. I ran into some girl on the way here."

Ace took his seat and started helping himself to the abundance of food.

"She seemed really upset about something…"

Luffy's eyes widened.

"You saw her?"

"Huh? Who?"

"Some girl that was working here. Some of the people here called her names and angered her. She punched that coffee machine right there and ran off…crying." Nami pointed at the machine which now had a gaping dent in it.

"She did that?" Ace asked almost amazed.

Luffy abruptly got up from his seat. Chopper looked up.

"Luffy, what-"

But before he could finish his sentence, Luffy quickly walked out of the tavern. Zoro sighed.

"He better not get himself lost…"

(Outside)

Luffy walked through the streets and weaved in and out of every alleyway. With a clueless face, he continued to search for the girl with the sad eyes.

'_Where could she have gone?'_

He wandered around for a while and finally found a wooden dock away from all the buildings. Sure enough, on the end was her, Aya. Luffy gave out a huge grin and ran towards her.

"Oi!"

Aya nearly fell in the water at the sight of Luffy rushing at her like a mad man. She winced as he came close enough to knock her off…but he stopped.

"Hi! My name's Luffy! You?"

Aya just sat there dumbstruck.

'_What the hell…?'_

Luffy stood over her with the same, humanly impossible grin. And they just sat there…staring. Aya finally gave into the uncomfortable silence.

"Who the hell are you?"

He started to laugh.

"I just told you! Luffy!"

"Oh…well, what do you want?"

'_And what's with all these weird names?'_

The grin faded. Luffy walked over and sat beside her. Aya feeling extremely awkward all the while.

"Why…did they call you a demon?"

Aya looked down into the water.

"Oh…that, huh?"

Luffy nodded.

"Well, why do you want to know? And further more, why do you care?" Aya pointed a finger at his face.

"I just want to know why you look so sad."

Aya gave out a mock grin.

"Psh, alright. I guess everyone deserves to know…so they can all stay away from me."

Luffy didn't even shift from his spot. It surprised her that he was completely serious about the whole thing. _'This weird, lanky lunatic kid…'_

"Well…I guess it all started when I was 6 years old. My mother was born into a rich family, and my father worked in the Marines. And I had a brother, 4 years older than me. His name was…Takeshi." She stopped for a moment, and went on. "We were a normal, loving, family…until father brought home a weird fruit. He said he got it from some cave out in the sea, and not for anyone to eat it. But of course…my curiosity got the best of me. I snuck out of my room late at night, and ate it. And the next day…lets just say I got a pretty bad punishment. I never did understand how he could become so upset about some fruit…it didn't taste that good anyways. Well, after all that, things went back to normal and carried on. Until my father started coming home really late. And when he finally did show up…he was completely wasted. My mother tried to ignore it for a while, but it got worse. They started having fights a lot, and all me and Takeshi could do was watch. A lot of times mom ended up getting hurt. It got so bad…father…he threatened to beat mom if she didn't stop asking him were he always was. She didn't stop…and he did beat her…badly. Takeshi and I tried to stop it…but we couldn't. And one day, father pulled out a knife and stabbed her…I was there…watching in the hallway. I got so angry…I couldn't control myself. My mother was crying and standing in blood. I had to help. But something happened. This fluid shot off of my body and hit both of my parents. It pinned them onto the wall…and they choked to death. I…had no idea what happened…I somehow killed my own parents." Aya could feel a cold sweat form on the back of her neck. She shivered and looked at Luffy. He was blankly staring down into the sea, eyes deep with thought. He finally spoke.

"What happened…after that?"

Aya shook off the cold feeling and looked down into the water too.

"Well…Takeshi came into the room. He saw me on the floor crying, and then saw mom and dad. He was so afraid…the only thing he could do was pick me up and run. He took me away from the house we lived in…away from our dead parents. We eventually found a town far away from our home. It was this town we decided to stay in. But, we were both too young to get real jobs, so we had to live on the streets and get money by doing errands for people. As time went by, people found out that our parents were the one who were killed in their own home…and with my power, rumors about me started to grow. But I didn't care…Takeshi took care of me the whole time we were there. When I got sick, he wouldn't even eat. And he always promised that he was going to find a better life for us. No matter what, he was always there for me, and me for him. We had to pull through…..So when I was 13, I finally got myself a job. I became a mechanic. I worked hard everyday, and learned the basics about machinery in everything, even ships. Then, in my spare time, I fiddled around with stuff and became an 'expert', according to my brother. He was a waiter in the same tavern I work at today. Everything was finally going good. We got a house, and had plenty of food and money to get what we needed. But…even that wasn't enough for Takeshi. He swore that he was going to get rich, just for me…"

Aya sighed. "He was always so damn selfless. If he had one greedy bone in his body then maybe he could have lived on!" She took a nearby rock and chucked it into the ocean. It skipped as far as the eye could see. Luffy finally moved. He stretched out his long arms and legs and yawned. She could tell by his expression that he wanted to hear more.

"…he snuck on a pirate ship that docked into town and robbed it of it's money. Because of that…he died. The last time I saw him, he was lying on the ground shot in the head. The captain of the ship killed him, and I was too late to save him. Everything I had was gone…I felt like I had no reason to live…but the things he would say to me just stuck in my head. And I kept on living." She paused and thought for a moment.

"You know, not that you would care but…he would always say to me, "Water has a way of breaking through and being free. Never become anything less than what you are…great"' She gave out a faint laugh.

"Corny…isn't it?"

Luffy glanced at her. Her face was buried in her hands and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

"After Takeshi died…the rumors that had been spreading about me started to get worse. They soon figured out that I had killed my parents. The townspeople feared me…and grew to hate me. They called me names, and I was soon known as 'The Demon'. "

Tears continued to run down her face. Luffy took his hat and placed it on her head and smiled. He wouldn't take his eyes from hers, and she could tell that he was trying to cheer her up.

"Why don't you ever leave this place?"

Aya sniffed and wiped her tears away. It was an age old question she asked herself a lot.

"I don't know…I could never bring myself to. No matter what I tried…"

She lifted her hand onto the straw hat. It felt warm against her head.

"Then…why don't you come with me and my nakama? You can see all kinds of stuff on the sea with us! And you can finally be free to do whatever you want!" He spread a huge grin across his face, but it soon faded when he saw that Aya's face wasn't quite as ecstatic.

"You're…a pirate?" she murmured.

"Yeah! Why?"


	4. Chapter 4 The Rubber Man

Aya took the straw hat from her head and shoved it back onto Luffy's lap. Her face quickly became distorted with anger and she glared at him. He stood up in surprise and put his hat back on.

"What's wrong?"

Her body continued to shake with rage, but said nothing. She finally stood up, eyes hidden underneath her bangs. She froze and clenched her fists.

"For once…"she muttered. "I thought someone didn't care about my past."

Luffy blinked. Aya lifted her gaze onto his eyes and snarled.

"But the one who didn't care…is the same as the one who caused all of my pain in the first place!"

She lifted her arm and water formed around it and froze into a sort of ice sword. She pointed it directly at his throat, the sharp point barley piercing his skin. In an instant, Luffy stretched out his arm far behind him and let it go.

"Gomu Gomu No….Pistol!"

It came crashing back and smashed Aya in the face. The impact sent her flying into the ground. But she quickly got up and lunged at him, only to be hit hard by his blinding fist again. This time she stayed down. She felt her bottom lip with her free hand. It was bleeding.

"We're not all the same." A somber voice spoke.

She looked up. The goofy face she saw moments before had now turned to a more unyielding one. She sighed, and let her ice sword melt into the ground.

"Then what are you? All of the pirates I've seen are all the same…worthless!"

Luffy frowned.

"How could you understand?" she continued. "You never had the one you loved most taken away from you!"

"But I do understand…"

Aya paused. There was something in his voice that caught her attention.

"A long time ago…I almost lost someone that I cared about. He lost his arm while trying to save my life. It was because of him…that I decided that I would become pirate king."

Luffy took the straw hat from his head and gazed at it in his hands. Then he looked at her, smiling once again.

"I'm sure your brother wouldn't want you fighting pirates. If he were alive, you would probably make him worry."

Aya looked down at the ground. She thought about Takeshi and all the things he said to her. And she realized, that maybe this pirate wasn't as different from her as she thought.

'_Maybe…this weird kid is right…_'

She looked up apologetically.

"Look…I know that what I just did was…um…stupid. And well…I'm sorry."

She fidgeted around with her fingers and gave out a meek smile. But the one Luffy gave in return made her wince.

"How…do you do that?

Luffy began to laugh. He put his finger in his mouth and pulled on his cheek. As he pulled, it just got longer and longer…Aya's eyes widened as it grew. Then he let go and it snapped back into place.

"I'm a rubber man!"

"Did you get that from eating a Cursed Fruit?"

He nodded maniacally.

"Well, that explains things…"

Aya got up and dusted herself off. She took one last glace at Luffy before turning around and walking off back into town.

"Hey! Where are you going!" he called lifting up his hands.

Luffy was still shouting behind her, but she didn't stop…until he caught up and planted himself in front of her. She raised an eyebrow.

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to be a part of my crew!"

"…what?"

"I can tell that your unhappy here, so why don't you come with us? It'll be really fun! My nakama are funny!"

He was waving his arms around like a fish out of water. But there was something strange about it all that made her feel like she could finally leave her home. She reluctantly nodded and Luffy jumped high into the air.

"Yay! We have a mechanic! C'mon, you have to meet the rest of my crew!"

He raced off into the town and Aya reluctantly followed behind him, now wondering if she had made the right decision. Leaving all thoughts of doubt behind her, they continued to rush about the entire town, running this way and that until they finally reached the tavern. Luffy rushed in and looked eagerly for his crew. But…they were no where to be found.

"What?

Aya ran into the tavern too and looked at Luffy, now impatiently scanning the entire room.

"What happened?"

"Ahh…they're not here. They're probably already on the ship…"

"Well? Where is the ship?"

Luffy put his hands on his hips and grinned.

"I have no idea."


End file.
